There are many ways a business can use YouTube, but the most common is to attract new customers. That’s a challenge, given the millions of competing videos on the YouTube service. The key is to produce a video that potential customers want to watch. In most instance, that means producing a video that offers customers unique value. YouTube for Business author Michael Miller explains the three types of videos that are successful for promoting businesses — informative, educational, and entertaining — and how best to create each type of video. Miller also addresses how to drive YouTube viewers to your website and convert them into paying customers.

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If done right, YouTube can provide a huge bang for your marketing buck. YouTube has a huge viewer base, with more than 130 million visitors per month. You can reach these potential customers at minimal cost, as YouTube hosts and delivers videos totally free of charge.

So YouTube can deliver a huge audience for very little investment. The challenge is getting the attention of that audience, and converting them into new customers for your business, your brand, and your products.

What Kinds of Videos Attract New Customers?

YouTube viewers watch more than two billion videos each day. The challenge is to garner some of that viewership for your own videowhich means producing videos that attract YouTube viewers.

Many, if not most of the hundreds of millions of videos on the YouTube site are uploaded by individuals. These range from simple talking head video blogs to stupid pet (and human) tricks to just about anything else you can think of. Other videos are delivered by businesses, and range from the same type of simple talking head videos to lavish commercial productions.

Different businesses use YouTube in different ways. Some businesses consider YouTube a form of post-sale customer support, and produce videos that show customers how to install or get the most use out of their products. Other businesses use YouTube for human resources purposes, producing what are essentially recruiting videos.

Most businesses, however, use YouTube to attract new customers. Some do this by producing videos that build brand awareness; others go straight for the wallet and try to entice viewers to purchase their products online.

The key, however, is producing a video that potential customers want to watch. That means providing some sort of value to the viewer that they can’t get elsewhere. If you provide the value, they’ll spend their time watching. If you can’t provide unique value, no one will watch.

So what types of videos do YouTube viewers like to watch? I find that successful YouTube videos tend to fall into three major categories: They’re either informative, educational, or entertaining. In other words, YouTube viewers want to be informed, educated, or entertainedwhich means your videos have to do one or more of these things.